Crugnale, Crimson Cruise to 4-2 Victory Over Quinnipiac

Dylanne Crugnale scored the first two goals of her career on Friday night in the win over Quinnipiac. (Gil Talbot)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – A four-goal second period, including two from sophomore Dylanne Crugnale, gave the No. 7/7 Harvard women's hockey team a 4-2 season-opening win over No. 8/9 Quinnipiac on Friday evening at Bright-Landry Hockey Center. The Crimson improve to 1-0-0 for the third season in a row after handing the Bobcats (5-1-1, 0-1-0 ECAC) their first loss of the season.

Crugnale led the way for the Crimson with her two scores, but both Sarah Edney and Hillary Crowe tallied a goal and assist on the evening to give three Harvard skaters two points against the Bobcats. Samantha Reber, Mary Parker and Jessica Harvey all picked up helpers in the conference victory. Between the pipes, Emerance Maschmeyer, coming off a stellar freshman campaign, stifled 19 shots over three periods.

The first period was slow-going for both sides as each team fired off only five shots apiece. Mary Parker got things moving in the right direction, sending a chest-high rocket towards Chelsea Laden, but the Bobcat netminder was there in time. After Edney went coast-to-coast and nearly scored, she and Parker teamed up with Gina McDonald to pepper Laden with shots in the zone, but the QU defense stood firm. Not to be outdone on her end, Maschmeyer came up with five big saves, including padding away a redirect and sniffing out a 1-on-1 with just 30 ticks to play in the first.

Hillary Crowe ended the stalemate early in the second frame on a power play, finding the back of the net after redirecting and Edney shot from the high slot to give Harvard a 1-0 lead. Just over two minutes went by before the Crimson struck again, this time as Crugnale trickled one through traffic and past Laden's pads in the crease to extend the lead to a comfortable 2-0.

Minutes later, Quinnipiac broke its silence with a Nicole Brown roared down the ice to convert a 2-on-2 opportunity for the Bobcats. But Edney, who was on ice for all four of Harvard's goals on Friday, retaliated with a nifty shot from just inside the right circle during another Crimson power play. Her laser bounced right off Laden's shoulder and bounced high and right across the goal line to make it 3-1 in Harvard's favor.

Crugnale found luck with her second goal – the Crimson's fourth of the period – when she took advantage of a heavy Harvard forecheck. After stealing the puck just feet in front of the crease, Crugnale sent it home through Laden's skates to make it 4-1 in the home team's favor.

Quinnipiac kept Harvard quiet in the contest's final period, adding a goal from Morgan Fritz-Ward with just four minutes to go in the game, but it ultimately was not enough. The Crimson skated away with the 4-2 victory in the ECAC opener.

Game notes: With the win, Harvard moves to 14-2-1 all-time against Quinnipiac … Harvard moves to 23-11-2 in season openers, 16-6-1 at home … The Crimson is now 4-0 when opening the season vs. Quinnipiac … Dylanne Crugnale scored the first two goals of her career … Harvard handed Quinnipiac its first loss of the year, breaking a six-game unbeaten streak … The four goals allowed by Laden were the most all season.